NEW: Analysis of Mike Roger's recorded confession of the hoax
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- The two-hoaxed-five theory was first suggested by Raymond E. Fowler only 4 months after the incident. He proposed that a hot-air paper flying saucer could have been used.
- According to Robert Sheaffer, producer Ryan Gordon was working with Travis Walton on a new film (from mid-2020) to reveal how Travis and Mike created the hoax.
- The film did not happen, and Ryan appeared in podcasts in July 2021 to explain what he learned from his conversations with the crew - that the Gentry fire tower was used as the UFO.
- The Gentry tower theory fits with the earlier theory that two (Travis and Mike, with an accomplice in the tower) hoaxed the other five crew members in the truck.
- 17-year-old witness Steve Pierce now says his uncle took him to Gentry Tower while Travis was still missing, and suggested to him the UFO was in fact the tower.
Fowler's two-hoaxed-five theory
Raymond E. Fowler of the Woodside Planetarium and Observatory, Mass. (for MUFON) wrote to Allen Hynek (astronomer and UFOlogist) on February 11th, 1976 and reviewed the Travis Walton case.
One of the theories Fowler puts forward is that some of the witnesses were hoaxed by the other crew. He brings up the possibility of the UFO being a “flying saucer model such as sold by Edmund Science.” Involved in the hoax would be Travis, Mike the driver, and an accomplice to fire a “flash gun” when Travis gave a signal. The others misperceived the experience as a genuine glowing flying saucer that fired a beam to knock Travis down.
It seems likely that the "signal" to the accomplice in the tower was probably Travis ducking ("get ready") and standing up again ("go!"). At this moment, Mike drove the truck away.
The idea of “two men hoaxing five” was also suggested by Karl Pflock, who believed in alien spacecraft generally but did not believe Travis Walton’s case was genuine.
A critical part of Fowler’s statement is this:
Those in the truck involved with the hoax would, by exaggerated statements and suggestions to the innocent observers, help further convince them that they had witnessed a real UFO abduction.
One of the theories Fowler puts forward is that some of the witnesses were hoaxed by the other crew. He brings up the possibility of the UFO being a “flying saucer model such as sold by Edmund Science.” Involved in the hoax would be Travis, Mike the driver, and an accomplice to fire a “flash gun” when Travis gave a signal. The others misperceived the experience as a genuine glowing flying saucer that fired a beam to knock Travis down.
It seems likely that the "signal" to the accomplice in the tower was probably Travis ducking ("get ready") and standing up again ("go!"). At this moment, Mike drove the truck away.
The idea of “two men hoaxing five” was also suggested by Karl Pflock, who believed in alien spacecraft generally but did not believe Travis Walton’s case was genuine.
A critical part of Fowler’s statement is this:
Those in the truck involved with the hoax would, by exaggerated statements and suggestions to the innocent observers, help further convince them that they had witnessed a real UFO abduction.
Fowler’s post script about the flying saucer model, Feb 11, 1976
Example of ad for hot-air flying saucer kit, Popular Mechanics, Dec 1970
The entire letter can be found in this pdf, pages 39-41.
Confession time
We were talking in the woods one day... We were talking about creating a UFO hoax, okay? I don't know how the UFO got there. But I remember... when I was driving the truck and he jumped out, it was all deliberate. It was all a staged thing, okay? He ran up there and there was something about the UFO not being real, although it looked real.
What you're saying is you and Travis, together, hoaxed this?
Yeah...
On July 4, 2021, producer Ryan Gordon posted a recorded confession from Mike Rogers about the 1975 incident. It was recorded two months earlier.
Robert Sheaffer, co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, put the audio clip in this context:
"...Ryan Gordon, who is planning to produce a documentary to reveal a new angle on this famous case, presents a side of the case that has never been seen before – to not only show that the Walton “abduction” is a hoax, but using information obtained from Travis and Mike themselves, to show exactly how the hoax was accomplished." - Robert Sheaffer, Bad UFOs blog, July 4, 2021
Mike Rogers confirmed the existence of a documentary in the works, and that he had communicated with Ryan and even gone to the (alleged) abduction site with him. Through the first half of 2021, Travis and Mike had been talking on podcasts (etc.) about this forthcoming project - and various acrimonious fallouts because of it.
"[Ryan Gordon] claims in the future he’s going to work with Robert Sheaffer and they’re gonna put together a documentary about all of this. Travis told me a lot of this." - Mike Rogers to Paranormal Pop, July 6, 2021
After the confession was released, Mike recanted it and said the audio was manipulated. A few days later he changed his mind and said the audio was not manipulated but that it referred to something else. While Mike does not vouch for the abduction part of the story, since he wasn't there, he has said "one hundred percent" he did not hoax the UFO sighting.
Read my analysis of the recorded confession here.
Scott Browne from UFO Classified, which hosted Ryan Gordon's exposé (which is summarized on this site), spoke with a childhood friend of Travis Walton's who said Travis was obsessed with perpetrating a hoax on the town.
Robert Sheaffer, co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, put the audio clip in this context:
"...Ryan Gordon, who is planning to produce a documentary to reveal a new angle on this famous case, presents a side of the case that has never been seen before – to not only show that the Walton “abduction” is a hoax, but using information obtained from Travis and Mike themselves, to show exactly how the hoax was accomplished." - Robert Sheaffer, Bad UFOs blog, July 4, 2021
Mike Rogers confirmed the existence of a documentary in the works, and that he had communicated with Ryan and even gone to the (alleged) abduction site with him. Through the first half of 2021, Travis and Mike had been talking on podcasts (etc.) about this forthcoming project - and various acrimonious fallouts because of it.
"[Ryan Gordon] claims in the future he’s going to work with Robert Sheaffer and they’re gonna put together a documentary about all of this. Travis told me a lot of this." - Mike Rogers to Paranormal Pop, July 6, 2021
After the confession was released, Mike recanted it and said the audio was manipulated. A few days later he changed his mind and said the audio was not manipulated but that it referred to something else. While Mike does not vouch for the abduction part of the story, since he wasn't there, he has said "one hundred percent" he did not hoax the UFO sighting.
Read my analysis of the recorded confession here.
Scott Browne from UFO Classified, which hosted Ryan Gordon's exposé (which is summarized on this site), spoke with a childhood friend of Travis Walton's who said Travis was obsessed with perpetrating a hoax on the town.
Gentry tower theory
Gentry Fire Lookout Tower. Latitude: 34.301505, Longitude: -110.713600, Elevation: 2,354.55 m
When attempting to discredit the Gentry tower theory, Mike, Travis, and others have pointed out it is 4 miles (as the crow flies) from the abduction site and can't be seen from there. (For example, Mike on a 51 Areas podcast, July 7, 2021; and on Jimmy Church's Fade 2 Black, July 26.)
This is true. However, the theory proposes that Mike drove the truck to Gentry tower that night and the crew thought the lit-up cab, 70 feet in the air, was a UFO. The evidence laid out here shows that:
Gentry Fire Lookout Tower (right) is a standard federal government fire lookout tower on Rim Road in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Park, one of thousands across the USA, though these days many are automated or decommissioned.
A lookout tower has been situated up on a ridge in Gentry Campground, Heber, AZ, since the 1920s. It was rebuilt in 1965. The antennas and solar panels are modern additions.
From the U.S. Forest Service - Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Facebook page:
Built in 1965, the 70' Gentry Lookout has a 14' x 14' CL-100 series metal live-in cab with catwalk.
Current lookout watchers have confirmed to me that then, as now, an intrepid employee of the United States Forest Service - sometimes even a married couple - were on duty during daylight hours and could (optionally) stay overnight for their shift of five days. The cab is set up for this purpose.
This is true. However, the theory proposes that Mike drove the truck to Gentry tower that night and the crew thought the lit-up cab, 70 feet in the air, was a UFO. The evidence laid out here shows that:
- The crew has stated at various times it took up to 15 minutes to arrive at the UFO, not the 2 minutes required to cover the 300 yard rough trail from the worksite to the "official" abduction site.
- The UFO as described by both Mike Rogers and the innocent witnesses sounds very much like the tower cab, including the same dimensions, and nothing like Mike's later artistic renditions.
- In Travis's book he describes how the crew was not sure Mike had brought them back to the same spot to look for Travis. More recently Steve Pierce told me he didn't think Mike took them back to the same spot.
Gentry Fire Lookout Tower (right) is a standard federal government fire lookout tower on Rim Road in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Park, one of thousands across the USA, though these days many are automated or decommissioned.
A lookout tower has been situated up on a ridge in Gentry Campground, Heber, AZ, since the 1920s. It was rebuilt in 1965. The antennas and solar panels are modern additions.
From the U.S. Forest Service - Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Facebook page:
Built in 1965, the 70' Gentry Lookout has a 14' x 14' CL-100 series metal live-in cab with catwalk.
Current lookout watchers have confirmed to me that then, as now, an intrepid employee of the United States Forest Service - sometimes even a married couple - were on duty during daylight hours and could (optionally) stay overnight for their shift of five days. The cab is set up for this purpose.
It looks so cozy at night, doesn't it? (CL-100 lookout tower, same model as Gentry)
CL-100 lookout tower (same model as Gentry) under starlight
Gentry Tower is 5 miles by road from the Turkey Springs work site where Mike and his crew were working on Nov 5, 1975. Its cab has a passing resemblance to a spaceship even in broad daylight.
What about at night, with the interior lights on and the window louvres propped open at an angle?
Read the crew's descriptions of the "UFO" they saw:
"This thing is beautiful. It was solid white and you could see the window frames coming down from it, and then there’s a frame in the middle of it. It was like two cake pans on top of each other… glowing white." - Steve Pierce with Michael Vara, Jul 2013.
"It was more or less white, sort of a golden white... And that was just the panels because it had a framework. The bottom of it was reflective, looked like metal underneath it. All made of metal and covered in shiny clean glass. It was glowing, it was actually lighting up the ground around there, but softly." - Mike Rogers on 51 Areas, Mar 2021
And from Travis himself: "It was like glass." [Paranormal Witness, 2012]
I should rename my website Liar in the Sky, because I believe that UFO's pants are on fire.
What about at night, with the interior lights on and the window louvres propped open at an angle?
Read the crew's descriptions of the "UFO" they saw:
"This thing is beautiful. It was solid white and you could see the window frames coming down from it, and then there’s a frame in the middle of it. It was like two cake pans on top of each other… glowing white." - Steve Pierce with Michael Vara, Jul 2013.
"It was more or less white, sort of a golden white... And that was just the panels because it had a framework. The bottom of it was reflective, looked like metal underneath it. All made of metal and covered in shiny clean glass. It was glowing, it was actually lighting up the ground around there, but softly." - Mike Rogers on 51 Areas, Mar 2021
And from Travis himself: "It was like glass." [Paranormal Witness, 2012]
I should rename my website Liar in the Sky, because I believe that UFO's pants are on fire.
"He always thought it was the tower"
There’s a lot of things makes you wonder... The tower, y’know. That tower looks pretty good at night time. You ever seen it at night? [Steve Pierce on UFO Classified, Jun 24, 2022]
Through personal communication in January 2022, witness Steve Pierce told me that two days after Travis went missing his uncle took him to Gentry Tower (when it was not lit) and suggested it was the UFO. His uncle had seen the tower lit up before (and also after) the incident. There was no one around and they didn't climb inside the darkened cab. Steve also relayed part of this on a podcast: UFO Classified, Jun 24, 2022.
Steve was 17 years old. He'd just witnessed what he thought was a strange craft that had taken off with his workmate, and he was under suspicion of murder. His mother kept telling him to repent and find Jesus. He was under unthinkable stress. Now his uncle was suggesting he might be the victim of a cruel hoax, that his terror was unfounded. Yet his workmates and boss seemed convinced they'd witnessed a UFO.
It's not surprising Steve couldn't see the truth - that on top of everything he'd just experienced, he would now have to accept the idea he'd been horribly tricked.
Until late 2022, Steve maintained Mike and Travis were under mind control, and that a high-tech craft abducted Travis and took him to Area 51.
"My uncle always thought it was the tower," Steve told me, "my brother's think so too [and] a few other [of] my relatives".
I asked him: Did he take you there in order to see if you also thought it was the tower?
Steve: Yes
On September 13, 2022, Steve told me he now accepts it was a hoax. (Read Steve's Story here and my blog post about the motivations for the hoax here.)
Through personal communication in January 2022, witness Steve Pierce told me that two days after Travis went missing his uncle took him to Gentry Tower (when it was not lit) and suggested it was the UFO. His uncle had seen the tower lit up before (and also after) the incident. There was no one around and they didn't climb inside the darkened cab. Steve also relayed part of this on a podcast: UFO Classified, Jun 24, 2022.
Steve was 17 years old. He'd just witnessed what he thought was a strange craft that had taken off with his workmate, and he was under suspicion of murder. His mother kept telling him to repent and find Jesus. He was under unthinkable stress. Now his uncle was suggesting he might be the victim of a cruel hoax, that his terror was unfounded. Yet his workmates and boss seemed convinced they'd witnessed a UFO.
It's not surprising Steve couldn't see the truth - that on top of everything he'd just experienced, he would now have to accept the idea he'd been horribly tricked.
Until late 2022, Steve maintained Mike and Travis were under mind control, and that a high-tech craft abducted Travis and took him to Area 51.
"My uncle always thought it was the tower," Steve told me, "my brother's think so too [and] a few other [of] my relatives".
I asked him: Did he take you there in order to see if you also thought it was the tower?
Steve: Yes
On September 13, 2022, Steve told me he now accepts it was a hoax. (Read Steve's Story here and my blog post about the motivations for the hoax here.)
Artistic license
How could five men mistake a lookout tower for a UFO?
We might be led astray by movie and TV impressions as well as by Mike's renditions of the "flying saucer" over the years, the two latest of which are shown here:
We might be led astray by movie and TV impressions as well as by Mike's renditions of the "flying saucer" over the years, the two latest of which are shown here:
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Incidentally, here's something Mike told a reporter at the time of the event that has been entirely forgotten since:
"it had some markings but they were too complicated to describe.” - Mike Rogers, Chicago Tribune, Nov 1975
Alien calligraphy aside, these paintings do not match the initial sketches of the UFO. Back then it was decidedly squat (only twice as wide as it was tall) and angular. Here are three sketches drawn by the witnesses shortly after the incident - compare to the fire tower above:
"it had some markings but they were too complicated to describe.” - Mike Rogers, Chicago Tribune, Nov 1975
Alien calligraphy aside, these paintings do not match the initial sketches of the UFO. Back then it was decidedly squat (only twice as wide as it was tall) and angular. Here are three sketches drawn by the witnesses shortly after the incident - compare to the fire tower above:
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Sketch from Mike Rogers' initial report to Ground Saucer Watch, Nov 13, 1975
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Sketch by Mike Rogers and Ken Peterson, White Mountain Independent, Nov 14, 1975
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Sketch by Mike Rogers & Dwayne Smith, National Enquirer, Dec 16, 1975
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In his 1978 book The Walton Experience, Travis described the UFO as being 15-20 feet in diameter, and 8-10 feet thick. These dimensions match the earliest sketches and also match the size of Gentry tower. But the shape has morphed over the years to become a sleek rounded disc, "40 feet wide or less" but still 8-10 feet thick according to Travis in this 2019 interview.
Why did Mike, an artist, not draw the UFO as a disc in the first place?
Just as Travis had to write his book in a way that did not seem wrong to the other witnesses, Mike had to sketch something initially that would not seem wrong to them, either. Over time, with their fading memories influenced by the various Hollywood versions of the flying saucer, their initial impression of a craft looking rather like a lookout cab has been distorted.
Why did Mike, an artist, not draw the UFO as a disc in the first place?
Just as Travis had to write his book in a way that did not seem wrong to the other witnesses, Mike had to sketch something initially that would not seem wrong to them, either. Over time, with their fading memories influenced by the various Hollywood versions of the flying saucer, their initial impression of a craft looking rather like a lookout cab has been distorted.
Blast from the past
Scott Browne from UFO Classified and In the Field made contact with Kelly Waldrip, a junior high school friend of Travis and formerly of the Navy and FBI, who now runs a detective agency. On Steven Cambian's Truthseekers (Oct 12, 2021) Scott relays their 90-minute conversation:
“Travis was always trying to pull pranks on people. There was a certain time during their teenage years when Travis wanted to attach flares to balloons to fool the neighborhood into thinking it was UFOs. [Kelley] said [Travis] was always trying to come up with something to mess with people. He said as soon as he saw the story that it was breaking, he was like, You gotta be shitting me.”
After hearing about the movie Fire in the Sky, Waldrip "realized that Travis finally pulled it off, but for a much bigger audience."
On Curt Jaimungal's Theories of Everything podcast (Aug 8, 2021, timestamp 1:48:35) Travis confirmed that Waldrip was his best friend, adding: "He's definitely exaggerating anything that was said between us. People love to get attention."
“Travis was always trying to pull pranks on people. There was a certain time during their teenage years when Travis wanted to attach flares to balloons to fool the neighborhood into thinking it was UFOs. [Kelley] said [Travis] was always trying to come up with something to mess with people. He said as soon as he saw the story that it was breaking, he was like, You gotta be shitting me.”
After hearing about the movie Fire in the Sky, Waldrip "realized that Travis finally pulled it off, but for a much bigger audience."
On Curt Jaimungal's Theories of Everything podcast (Aug 8, 2021, timestamp 1:48:35) Travis confirmed that Waldrip was his best friend, adding: "He's definitely exaggerating anything that was said between us. People love to get attention."
Read on...
The next page details the truck’s route that night, from the work site to the UFO, and back again to look for Travis. It’s a comparison between what Travis wants us to believe (based on his book) and what really happened according to Ryan Gordon after talking to the crew (Travis and Mike): they did not encounter the UFO near their work site in Turkey Springs, but at Gentry Tower.
NOTE: Some times and dates from social media screenshots may be Australian AEST
(c) Charlie Wiser 2021
